Congress Averts Shutdown; Passes Bipartisan Stopgap Funding Bill

With mere hours to go before the fiscal year 2023 (FY23) funding ran out on September 30, 2023, Congress passed a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR), H.R. 5860, to keep the federal government funded through November 17, 2023. President Biden signed it into law later that night.

After the House of Representatives failed to pass an earlier CR with steep cuts and riders, Speaker McCarthy (R-CA) brought up a nearly clean CR and it passed 335-91, before the Senate passed it by a vote of 88-9. This bipartisan CR extends funding for osteopathic priority programs whose authorization expired on September 30, 2023: Community Health Centers (CHCs), National Health Service Corps (NHSC) and Teaching Health Centers (THCs).

The stopgap funding delays cuts to Medicaid disproportionate share hospitals but does not extend the authorization for the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education program nor provides money for Ukraine. The CR does extend the authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration for three months and provides $16 billion in disaster aid. Congress must now reach a consensus on funding the government long-term for FY24 before the CR expires or face another shutdown possibility.

AACOM will continue to advocate for education and health provisions important to our community and we will update you as the funding process continues.